My Beauty Best Teacher

Titus Kaloki writes about creativity echoing Richard Florida:

Tolerance for individuality and openness of minds are important for creative innovations and services to achieve economic gains. Without a receptive population selling creativity is difficult. This means education to involve creativity in content and evaluation.

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• Ken Robinson talks about creativity and talent (francescofederico.net)
• Do Schools Kill Creativity? (theelasticmind.blogspot.com)

Dibussi Tande writes in African Path about the impact of educational systems that do not foster ingenuity,resourcefulness and invention amongst other things.Quoting the World Bank:

The ability of a society to produce, select, adapt, commercialize, and use knowledge is critical for sustained economic growth and improved living standards. Knowledge has become the most important factor in economic development.

And comparing Cameroon to India

Today Cameroon is where India was some two decades ago – and it has the potential to become what India (or even Mauritius) is today. However, unlike India, Cameroon is crippled by the “civil service mentality”, and it lacks a crop of creative economic and political visionaries similar to those who transformed Bangalore from a sleepy backwater Indian town into an IT outsourcing and software Mecca.
Nowhere has that absence of vision been most manifested than in the country’s higher education system which was established primarily to train administrators for the post colonial government. Time has not changed the focus of Cameroon’s higher education system even as the world has moved on.

He alludes to a point made in the The Entrepreneur

The deficit of knowledge and learning is killing Cameroon and Africa softly. Despite a proliferation of schools and colleges, the lack of true learning and creativity has held the African captive to underdevelopment. In Cameroon we have graduates who are just producing what they were taught in school, instead of producing new things…This has left Cameroon with millions of qualified illiterates and graduates who are failures as far as life and service is concerned. A Master's degree holder moves with little or no creativity. Thousands of poorly educated Cameroonians only wait for opportunities to work where others have worked. Few are involved in the creation of new things. The outdated education they received then gives birth to confusion.

And brings to our attention a critical piece of analysis by Jeremy Weate on his observations about Nigeria.

The longer I live here, the more I realize that technological interventions or money pumped in by donors will do little to transform, unless there is a primary focus on business processes (whether in the commercial or the public sector)… Nigerians enjoy the benefits of cars, laptops, mobile phones and other modern technology, but live in a society which does not understand the discipline and rigour it takes to produce such technology. This creates an alienated culture where technology and modern industrial processes are seen as a mystery. No one seems to be able to solve the aviation crisis. No one seems to be able to create value-added manufacturing processes; no one seems to stem the tide of an import-economy, turning into an export-economy. So few technological interventions (in any sector) meet with any kind of success.

Truly intellectually curious,technologically innovative and self sustaining societies cannot be built off a bedrock of reactive thinking coupled with disinterest and indolence .The challenge is to disrupt these ossified ways of thought and catalyze the forces of creativity.

Agwu Amogu writes

"...When men are free to develop their self-interest, when they are free to use their minds in pursuit of what will make them happy, better their lives the wonderful creativity of the mind glows...the mind is the incubator of prosperity it is a costly ignorance to subject it to any form of coercion, as such coercion will paralyse productivity. The system of free minds, freemen and free market is a system of prosperity, growth and wealth creation...Wealth is actually created when enterprising individuals discover new ways to use existing resources. Since the possibilities of human creativity is infinite, then wealth too must be limitless. One idea leads to the next so one invention leads to the other.
The amount of wealth a nation has or produces does not depend mainly on the availability of natural resources, instead it is dependent upon human resources, the self-determined thoughts and creativity of its populace. The realization that natural resources does not limit creation of wealth is a very liberating one. For instance Switzerland and Japan have little or no mineral resources, while Nigeria and Mexico are greatly endowed with mineral resources, yet people in Switzerland and Japan are more comfortable that those in Nigeria and Mexico..."

via IPPA
photo courtesy freemarket.net

Commenting on the dearth of creative thinking in Africa Taban Lo Liyong stated "...In West Africa, the first age of African creativity also went away. We were brave in fighting against colonialism. You could be as brave as you wanted. But after independence, you would know that the African president was there. African writers had to find a new way of dealing with African issues. We need a new literary movement of extra-decolonisation of Africa from African dictators.Let’s produce that ideology first and it will have its activists. We have been running away from African culture into European culture for so long. No philosopher in Africa can claim to say “I am a philosopher of African philosophy..."

Ken Robinson, world-renowned education and creativity expert on changing paradigms:

• ISTE and NASA looking for teachers - Holt Think: Ed, Creativity, Tech, Administration

  ISTE is collaborating with NASA to select 25 middle and high school teachers who are creative, inspired, and share an enthusiasm for space. These teachers will work collaboratively to create learning and educational artifacts that teachers or students can use to gain a deeper understanding of the Earth’s magnetosphere. Each group of teachers will choose projects to create and design. Final projects may be selected for publication on the NASA website and/or featured at the ISTE 2012 annual conference and exposition.

  tags: education news

• New York Philharmonic Interrupted by Chimes Mahler Never Intended - NYTimes.com

  Alan Gilbert, New York Philharmonic conductor stopped the orchestra to wait for a man to silence his ringing cell phone. Yes, we should have manners to silence it but he just ignored it, hoping for it to stop.

  tags: education news cellphone

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

"...Football Made in Africa demonstrates all the creativity and dynamism of the peoples obliged to deploy a fair amount of cleverness and resourcefulness on a daily basis to be able to indulge in their passion: football...Every episode offers an original angle on a story, a slice of everyday life, where football is present everywhere. From the production of goals in the outskirts of Maputo to the atmosphere in bars where matches are aired on tiny TV screens, the harvesting of rubber tree waste to make balls or the beaches of Cameroon where fishermen use their nets to play. The films are funny and poetic snapshots that reflect the unique imagination and energy of the African continent..."-website

Photo courtesy of TakeFive
via African Digital Art

Bunker Roy founder of the Barefoot College argues forcefully for a bottom up approach to development.He questions the value of MDG's:

These goals were set by international donors, governments and academics, who are speaking and acting on behalf of poor communities instead of being answerable to those communities. The people on the ground have no sense of ownership and must rely on knowledge and skills from outside...Tackling poverty requires a fundamentally different approach: one that starts with people themselves and encourages the initiative, creativity and drive from below that must be at the core of any transformation of their lives if it is to be lasting...The “bottom up” approach is about living and working with the poor, listening to them with humility to gain their confidence and trust... It is about respecting and implementing the ideas of the poor, encouraging them to use their skills and knowledge for their own development. It is about taking a back seat and providing the space for them to develop themselves.

via iPienso

Dan Pink's 2008 Ted Talk should be watched by everyone who thinks that teachers and principals being paid for good test scores is something that would actually work. Incentives only work when you have "simple rules and a clear destination."

When you have tasks that require creative solutions, right brain creative thinking, incentives lead to worse performance. In fact, the higher the "bonus" or incentive, the worse the performance.

How do you improve creative performance? 
You harness intrinsic motivation by giving:

• Autonomy - flexibility, independence
• Mastery
• Purpose

We want to be held accountable and be good at what we do. Teachers want to be great teachers. We want to do a good job. And we all want purpose, or else we wouldn't be teaching. We are modern day nobility - when we act like it.

Lucky to make no money and have no benefits?
I'm blessed to be at a school that only tests 3 days a school year and gives us teachers a lot of autonomy in what we do (we are involved in textbook purchases and curriculum decisions), we all have a desire to be great at what we do, and we have a purpose. I think it is a common ingredient in successful schools and teachers. There are many teachers here who have left public schools because they have more freedom here and they have fallen in love with teaching again. They make less money and have no benefits but the autonomy, purpose, and mastery is here. They would never go back, they say, because they can be real teachers. That is a sad statement.

Photo: BigStock

You get what you pay for.
But as for now, American public schools are getting what they pay for: worse test scores. If you believe the research Pink quotes, it means that if you pay someone more money for a job that requires creative solutions, the more you pay them an incentive pay (for the scores themselves), the worse that they will do, according to the science backing this up. (This is talking about INCENTIVE pay - Not base pay. Teachers should be well paid for a very important job. But paying for test scores is the wrong thing.)

Applying the Creativity Time to the Classroom
I have a Freshman project that takes 15-20% of the student's time and am giving them autonomy, mastery, and purpose. It is going to be a big positive of this year.

Think Noble Thoughts, it may help you more than you think
Watch this 18 minute video and think about it. Remember your noble calling -- perhaps that thought may do more to help you improve test scores in your room than anything else because that gives you PURPOSE it is up to your administration and school board to give you Autonomy and let you Master your profession.

Here's a post just in from the trenches. DCPS related service providers speak out about our real working conditions that you rarely hear about in our mainstream press as well as the cronyism and nepotism and politicism that are still pervasive even under the helm of our school chancellor. Check this out from a DC School Psychologist.

Candi:
"As always thanks so much for all you do, keeping everyone informed and working tirelessly on our behalf. First, please write to the Obama campaign and respond to Obama's most ill advised praise for our Chancellor and the "great" Mayor for all they are doing for education in this city. They ( Obama and his campaign advisors ) need to see/ read those voluminous articles to the contrary.

Michelle Rhee went to the Democratic National Convention and berated the democrats as shameful for only being concerned about unions and NOT about education of the inner city students ! Can you believe the gall ??? Here in DC we have classes with 35 and 45 students, some reform that is. Her only methodology for reform in fire, fire, fire, hire non-educators - anyone she can find, and let the classroom teacher:student ratio's be damned! Obama just might lose votes by aligning himself with those two DC lightening rods for public contempt.

Most people recognize the "destruction of public education ", and it's replacement with poorly conceived privatization, to be a republican initiative. Just as their repetitive attempts to dissolve the US Department of Education keep coming to the surface. Remember when Service master replaced all school custodians.... and what was the benefit there other than more privatization ?

Secondly, every new DCPS administration comes along with the battle cry of "down with the pernicious practice of friendship, kinship, cronyism and nepotism" as the #1 problem with DCPS staffing. Well, the 5 new School Psychology heads ( including the two who subjected us to the most elementary " ethics training " session recently, are all tight friends, schoolmates, cronies from way back and also long associated through family friendship with one of the administrators under Dr. Phyllis Harris as reports have it.

Additionally, these "program managers" are the least seasoned, least experienced of all the psychology workforce. But then, that's what apparently qualifies one to work under the current regime. When reading the published Human Resource job description for program managers, there is such a massive list of responsibilities that they clearly don't have time to hold "peer review/ case conferences" in addition to staff developments, which rarely develop anything because of a pervasive lack of psychological acumen and creativity." Anonymous DCPS School Psychologist. Posted by The Washington Teacher.

Walter Russell Mead gives some great advice to students going back to school. The whole article is filled with advice and suggestions, but for the sake of brevity, here are some of the best parts:

The real world does not work like school. Life in school is life in bureaucracy. You follow the rules, do what you are told, and rewards follow. That’s the old system; the new one won’t work that way. Creativity, integrity and entrepreneurial initiative will pay off; following the old rules and hoping for the old rewards is a road to frustration. You have to fight the tendency of the educational system to turn you into a timeserving baby bureaucrat, following the rules and waiting for the inevitable promotion.

Most of your elders know very little about the world into which you are headed. Most faculty members, especially the tenured ones, have worked and lived in a world that is passing away. In many cases it’s hard for them to imagine the kind of lives you will live, and you need to keep this in mind.

You are going to have to work much, much harder than you probably expect. Your competition is working hard, damned hard, and is deadly serious about learning. There’s nothing written in the stars that guarantees Americans a higher standard of living than other people. Those of you who spend your college years goofing off in the traditional American way are going to pay a much higher price for this than you think.

Choosing the right courses is more important than choosing the right college. Your generation can’t afford to throw these four years away; choose your courses carefully and seriously.

Get a traditional liberal education; it is the only thing that will do you any good. However, in times of rapid change, it is paradoxically more useful to immerse yourself in the basics and the classics than to try to keep up with the latest developments and hottest trends.
 
Character counts; so do good habits. Character and spiritual grounding are going to count much more in the tumultuous, uncertain environment that is approaching than in the more stable and bureaucratic world of the past. But in a world in which employment is less secure, competition tougher, and your reputation for integrity and productivity are the most important assets you have, character is going to count.

The one piece of advice I would add is that students, whether they be in high school or college, need to read on their own. They can't cede their mind to the institution- if only the government is putting information and thoughts and theories in your head, than that is a very bad thing. Students should always be reading a book they choose on their own, and should be rotating fiction with non-fiction or biographies. Don't let someone else have total control over your education- educate yourself on your own on your own time too.

Mutumwa D. Mawere writes:

If Africa needs sustainable investment from both domestic and foreign sources, it must critically interrogate its understanding of the ownership concept so as to correctly capture the kind of human imagination required to spur development and creativity.

He asks:

Who should drive the African economic agenda? Should it be the state or the citizen? What should be the proper role of the state in post colonial Africa? Does Africa need intelligent leaders or enlightened and empowered citizens? Who should own Africa’s resources? What kind of Africa do we want to see?...[continue reading]

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• Africa's Scramble For Africa

Wangui wa Goro writes in Pambazuka:

Most worryingly, is the fixing of tradition as something staid that will never change and which condemns the majority into servitude or slavery. For me, culture should answer the question whether it can promote and deliver democracy, equality and social justice for the majority. A pro-people culture would bode well for peace, justice and democracy in Africa; a culture that would enable a re-engagement with the self that has been lacking - a re-engagement with our neighbours and the world in ways that are powerful and which would yield tremendous wealth, enjoyment, creativity, learning and exchange.

Via NaijaBlog

I am all about providing access to learning outside the walls of my classroom. As you know, there are lots of "educational resources" available on the web, but do any of them relate to your specific class's materials and needs? You can't get a personalized feel from a website unless you create it.

By maintaining a classroom website, you create a fabulous opportunity for students to access valuable classroom material outside the hours of 8:00 am - 3:00 pm on weekdays. I'm not suggesting that we bombard our students with extreme amounts of work and not allow them any time for their families or hobbies, but I do think that providing personalized educational resources outside of school can have huge benefits for your students.

What Can You Post on a Classroom Website?
The specifics vary, depending on which hosting site you choose, but with a little creativity, the answer is "anything!" Here are some examples of what I posted on my classroom website:

1. Contact information -- to the school and to myself. For myself in particular, I provided information on my e-mail address and phone number, as well as my classroom Twitter. Besides providing those specific contact avenues, I even included a "contact box," where people without e-mail can actually send me a message (via e-mail). There's no way for me to reply via e-mail if the sender doesn't have his/her own e-mail address, but this works great for just "leaving a message." It also works great if the computer network you're on when you're visiting the website blocks you from access your e-mail address. Case in point: a girl who has a Yahoo e-mail account was able to send me a message on the school computers, even though her Yahoo access was blocked. 
2. Syllabus, necessary supplies, and due dates -- I title this "essential info" on my website, but of course, you can name it whatever is best for you. This is where kids can go to obtain extra explanation and/or copies of any of that "essential info" that was presented at the very beginning of class. This comes in handy for my secondary English students, especially right before our bi-annual binder check, because they can download extra copies of the homework help groups and syllabus, which are mandatory for the binder check! 
3. Lesson plans -- Some teachers balk at posting their lesson plans for the community to see, but I welcome all families to read mine! I want everyone to know what's going on in my classroom. This isn't to say that I am able to always stay on schedule or that I always do things perfectly, but it creates a much more relaxed environment when everyone is on the same page. There is less confusion for the parents because, regardless of the child's lack of explanation or communication, the parent always knows what was taught and assigned that day in school. 
4. Due dates -- I embedded a calendar into my website and made sure to update it frequently with new due dates. Students could view this on the web or view the paper copy in class, but there was no excuse not to know what assignments were due at what times. 
5. Virtual refrigerator -- I love my virtual 'fridge page! It allows me an opportunity to post outstanding student work for the entire community to see! (Just make sure you white out last names for privacy purposes!) It's a great way to recognize effort for a student of any age, but it works particularly well at the secondary level, I've found. Kids of that age aren't eager to go home and talk to their families about school, much less are they sharing accomplishments with their peers. Posting work on my virtual 'fridge allowed my secondary students the opportunity to shine publicly and academically, and it helped make success in the classroom a little more "cool."
6. Learning links -- I have a resource section on my website, and it connects students and parents to all kinds of helpful websites that are "teacher approved." When I taught elementary, I mostly listed links to learning games online. I might also include links to "kid-friendly" search engines, which can be hard to come by these days! When I taught high school, I included links to research involving our classroom: SparkNotes and research paper explanations. I also included links to suicide help lines, child abuse awareness websites, etc. I probably won't ever have anyone admit to using any of these links, but it makes me feel better to know that they're there and available.

I'm on Board; Now How Do I Get Started?

Here are a few sites that will host your own website:

1. Consider using a blog. Blogspot actually has the capability to build up to 5 (I think?) pages. For those of you that don't plan on posting a lot, you can blog and post homework on the same website. 
2. www.weebly.com I love this website. It is SO easy to use. Its drag-and-drop interface is simple, even for the technologically-challenged. :) I built my English websites using Weebly. There are many design options, and, like I said, it's super-simple. One thing I don't like is that there are several components labeled "pro," which means you need to upgrade your membership in order to have access to them. But I managed to go a whole year without needing to use any of the "pro" elements. And, even if you decide to upgrade, it could cost you as little as $3/month. Not too shabby. You can incorporate everything from text and pictures to YouTube videos, Google maps, and your own blog (which eliminates the need for an external blog). There's also an HTML widget available for those of you that are a little more fancy-schmancy, but I use it rarely at this point. 
3. www.yola.com I used this to create my very first website for early childhood education. There aren't as many customizing options, but it has the same drag-and-drop set up. I set up a website here for my 8th grade language arts class, but moved to Weebly because I felt it looked cleaner and offered a little more. 
4. www.wix.com I love, love, love this website! This allows you to create flash websites for free! They're totally customizable, although there are plenty of template options to get you started. It may be slightly more complicated to work than, say, Weebly, but still employs the use of drag-and-drop components. Some of the things Weebly asks you to pay for (like an audio file) are available here for free. It does NOT have its own blogging option, but there are several good blogging websites, anyway, so it's definitely not a deal breaker. I did have a little trouble incorporating YouTube videos, but I'm sure that can be amended quickly. I've been a member of Wix for less than a month, and have already decided to switch my classroom website to this host for next year's class. That website isn't completely done yet, but the point is, because I knew the basic navigation (thanks to Yola and Weebly!), it was easy to figure this out site out. One cool thing: it's a flash website, so it naturally looks "fancier." It also has a little bit more available storage for the average user. One negative aspect: since it's a flash website, some computers aren't equipped to view the site! (I'm pretty sure it's free to download the component that helps you view flash, but you have to be an administrator in order to download it...so if you're on a public computer that isn't equipped with it, you're just stuck, unfortunately.) This may create a problem on school computers that haven't been updated recently or that have extreme filters, firewalls, etc. 
5. www.webs.com I remember signing up for this briefly, and then deleting it. It's basically the same as everything other free website. But I obviously found the above-mentioned sites easier to use, so I opted out of this account quickly. However, you may find it easier to use, so I'm posting it. :)
6. www.21classes.com I actually just found this one, but it seems promising!
7. www.classjump.com A colleague of mine reminded me of this one today. I signed up for it many moons ago and didn't like the layout, so I quickly abandoned it. It reminds me a lot of Blackboard or D2L, so if you're into that, you'll love Class Jump. I do like that it is simple and looks college-y, but I do enjoy my pictures, slideshows, videos, and more!
8. Classroom tripod. I just found this one (this is a product of a Google search). Not sure I would use it, but I want you to be aware of more than just my personal preference sites...
9. Teacherweb. Same ol' same ol'. 

OK, we all know these aren't all the ways you can build a classroom website. But it's nice to know of specific options. I think Scholastic has a teacher-website section, as well, if you want to check that out.

Depending on how proficient you are with HTML/CSS, you could make your own completely independent website (using something like Go Daddy). The possibilities are endless!

• Fill Your New Kindle, iPad, iPhone with Free eBooks, Movies, Audio ...

  Free free free learning. Cost: Your time. nice list of free ways to add ebooks, textbooks, courses, and language courses onto your ipad or Kindle.

  tags: education ipad kindle ebook elearning free

• Improve Your Learning and Memory.: Your Kid May Be Smart. Just Don’t Tell Him So Too Often

  Every kd isn't smart but every kid (and adult) needs a "growth mindset." Please read this article. "Research by Carol Dweck and colleagues at Stanford demonstrated that the students who are most likely to learn from their mistakes are those who don’t think of themselves as smart as such but smart enough to get smarter. They have a “growth mindset,” a belief system that they can get better if they will just invest the time and effort."
  "In one of the group’s experiments, half of the students were repeatedly praised for “being smart,” and these students were not good at learning from mistakes. It is not clear why. Maybe they thought the problem was in the learning material, not in them. The other half of students were praised for effort and improvement and these students got better and made fewer mistakes. Several months later, all students repeated a standardized test, and the “smart” students’ scores dropped 20%, while the “growth mindset” students scored 30% higher." Praise students for effort not for being smart. bottom line. everyone is not a genius

  tags: education teaching edreform research

• China’s Parallel Online Universe | The Diplomat

  Social media with censorship. take a peek inside the Great Firewall of China. as the people connect "the party" keeps a firm grip on acceptable conversation, perhaps eliciting more control than ever by blocking conversations and the resulting connections that could happen.

  tags: education censorship China

• Pinterest: A Beginner's Guide to the Hot New Social Network

  Beginner's guide to pinterest, the new social network that manynteachers are gaga over. from recipes to craft ideas and lesson plans, teachers are all over this site.

  tags: education socalmedia

• Articles: A World without Schoolteachers

  eBooks make it possible to eliminate teachers? the fact isnthat if kids could learn just bybreading,mtheynwould be learning in most schools. The ubiquity of books is a point but this article is an example of how it is easy to jump to incorrect conclusions, especially if you have never taught. I think that in a few years that schools and unions will reverse course and beg their teachers to blog. If you dont joinnthe conversation, the comversation moves on without you and goes to places you nor the world (once it sees the impact) do not wish to go. There are good points here. Never be afraid to read views different from your own. the fact remains that the barrier for homeschoolimg is getting less expensive by the day.

  tags: education ebook homeschooling

• Graphic Artists Guild Changes Mind: Withdraws SOPA Support | Techdirt

  Graphic artists guild pulls support for SOPA. Now, I am wondering, where do educational organizations, ISTE for example, stand on SOPA? Has anyone bothered to ask?

  tags: Education SOPA copyright

• Google Will Release Their Own iPad 3 Competitor Within Six Months

  Google releasing ipad 3 competing tablet in 6 months.

  tags: education tablet Google

• How SOPA Would Kill Art & Creativity Online

  SOPA and the impact on online art. if this is really the case, SOPA is looking worse all the time. It is time to use the old fashioned phne call and call our Congressmen and Senators. Time tomlet our voices be heard on this one. the fact is tha phone calls tend to carry more weight than email. As someone whonused to answer phones for a US Senator in DC, I know this to be true. Phone calls get attention because they tie up staff. i will call in the morning. will you?

  tags: education SOPA copyright

• Ask Slashdot: Tools For Teaching High School Kids How To Make Games? - Slashdot

  This 189+ question on Slashdot is a great example of how comments become the post. if you eant to teach game peogramming and want the pros and cons and lots of choices, head here for a great, though time consuming, read.

  tags: education computerscience programming

• Tinderizer - Sending articles to your Kindle, one click at a time!

  If you have a Kindle fire or kindle and want to send articles, there are many ways to send articles there. Tinderizer is one of them. My favorite iPad RSS reader Mr. Reeder will send to Tinderizer ( and Diigo and Tumblr which is why I use it.)

  tags: Education kindle send articles to your using this cool appl.

• 5 Tech Trends to Watch in 2012

  Mashable's tech trends to watch. where i think they are wrong: the ultrabook. I think the ultrabook will sort of go the way of the netbook, all i hear are tablets and voice activation. I think emerging personal assistant technology will dommoremthan the ultrabook. Ultrabook is really just a set of specs.

  tags: education trends technology

• 5 Reasons Why Our Students Are Writing Blogs and Creating ePortfolios | Powerful Learning Practice

  Jenny Luca writes a powerful post about why her school has students blogging and creating efolios.

  tags: Blogging efolio education

• Microsoft: Five things to look for in 2012 | Microsoft - CNET News

  Analysis of Microsoft's moves coming in 2012 including the move into the living room through further inroads intomthe live tv experience started with the recent rollout of Kinect's voice activated tv. i do admit our new preferred way to stream music onto tv is no longer Pandora but the fm service through Kinect.

  tags: education Microsoft technology trends

• Educational publishers supporting sopa

  Pearson Education, Cengage Learning, McGraw-Hill Education, Macmillan, Scholastic, etc are among the educationall publishers supporting SOPA. this bill has many of us cringing just because it puts the power to shut down just about any website in the hands of the copyright holder in a pretty "guilty until proven innocent" type method that won't consider fair use until your site is already down. Perhaps I am oversimplifying but as one who had a Ning used for the digiteen project operated by our nonprofit almost pulled because the coyright holder and !Ning had no way to "let us" claim fair use, this is a very bad idea or at best case, a very bad implementation of a somewhat decent idea.

  tags: education copyright SOPA

• Top Most Read Posts of 2011

  If you are a compiter Science teacher or advocate for Computer S ience education, you should read Slfred Thompson. he works for Microsoft covering computer science but has a great personality and the kind of genuineness that all companies shoudl wish for in their bloggers. he will tell you what he thinks and I think he has done a great service to computer science educatiion. here, he lists his most popular posts of the year including "Why programming is for girls." Take time to read these posts.

  tags: education computerscience programming

• The Big G & Business » Top 10 Google+ Plus Tips

  Nice overview of how to get the most outvote Google+. The 10th item is to be proposed by readers with the selected winner being included in hs book.

  tags: Education edtech google google+

• Ignoring What Works in Education, The Umbrella Man, and The Challenge of Framing

  Prepare to be challenged as you read Ewan McIntosh's thought provokingnpost on formative assessment and why it is being ignored or misrepresented. i have some reading to do with the links he gives. this is one of those must reads for thought leaders.

  tags: education edreform teaching

• BBC News - Man sued for keeping company Twitter followers

  This company is suing @phonedog (name since changed) since he left the company and changed his userid keeping the twitter followers (some 17k he had accumulated.) Expect increasing scrutiny and debates on who owns the followers of people tweeting on behalf of companies.

  tags: Education twitter

• Rahilla Zafar: Raising the Next Nobel Laureate

  A common trait of Nobel Laureates: an inspirational teacher or two in Middle school. This is a great article for middle school principals to share with staff but also for any educator to read.

  tags: education teaching middleschool

• Ellen Siminoff: All Classes Great and Small

  On one thing I totally agree with this article: students should have pre- high school graduation experience collaborating with humdreds (eventually thousands) of other students. This article argues against needing small class sizes in schools. Where it falls short is the fact that if we truly want to reach each child, large class sizes are an anathema to personalized learning environments like mine where i have each student doing their own Freshan project, for example.

  tags: education edreform innovation

• End of an Era: The Golden Age of Tech Blogging is Over

  Never mistake the discussions that the "golden age of tech blogging is over" with blogs are dead. Blogging is changing. many have noticed people are more likely to respond with a retweet or comment on facebook and googke currents but it isnt dead. with every shift comes opportunity. it is a matter of understanding the audience you write for and how to share in a way that is insanely helpful to them.

  tags: education blogging

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.